An extended patient care report for a canine in congestive heart failure

This patient care report highlights the initial veterinary nursing interventions provided to a canine patient presenting in respiratory distress secondary to cardiac failure. Nursing considerations including respiratory function, oxygen supplementation and patient monitoring will be discussed below.

Roxy had a chronic history of mitral valve disease, which had progressed to heart failure 18 months prior to presentation at the author's clinic. There had been an initial response to medical management; however, Roxy then developed dyspnoea, 2 days prior to referral. The patient was severely dyspnoeic on presentation and as such physical examination and diagnostic investigations were limited to non-invasive low-stress techniques (Tseng and Waddell, 2000). Roxy had marked inspiratory effort with a rate of 84 breaths per minute. Thoracic auscultation revealed bilateral crackles — worse over the right hemi-thorax. She was also tachycardic with a regular rhythm and a heart rate of 140 beats per minute. All other physical examination parameters were within normal limits.